January 24, 2026 • 32 mins
As the second half of their regular season begins, the Rockets are 15-3 at home and 12-13 on the road. But their latest road win, which came Friday at Detroit on night two of a back-to-back, was perhaps their most impressive of the entire 2025-26 campaign.
The Rockets (27-16) and Pistons (32-11) remain at No. 4 and No. 1, respectively, in the Western and Eastern Conference standings.
Hosted by Ben DuBose and Dave Hardisty, Friday’s “ClutchFans Live” postgame show breaks down all the key storylines from that statement victory. Topics include the physical and mental dominance of Kevin Durant; a somewhat underwhelming night on defense from Alperen Sengun; and promising signs from the likes of Amen Thompson, Jabari Smith Jr., and Reed Sheppard.
This episode can also be viewed in video form here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKBQOSCDeJk
The Rockets (27-16) and Pistons (32-11) remain at No. 4 and No. 1, respectively, in the Western and Eastern Conference standings.
Hosted by Ben DuBose and Dave Hardisty, Friday’s “ClutchFans Live” postgame show breaks down all the key storylines from that statement victory. Topics include the physical and mental dominance of Kevin Durant; a somewhat underwhelming night on defense from Alperen Sengun; and promising signs from the likes of Amen Thompson, Jabari Smith Jr., and Reed Sheppard.
This episode can also be viewed in video form here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKBQOSCDeJk
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome and everybody to the postgame. What a win, what
a big, big win. Rockets knock off the Pistons, the
number one team in the East, UH one eleven to
one oh four tonight, And to say this is a
shock is probably an understatement. The Rockets, the way they
played in Philly and the way it looked defensively for
(00:23):
them to come out and pretty much contain the Pistons tonight,
shut them down from three point range, and so many
positive things came out of this. Kevin Durant thirty two
points I believe he finished with tonight was just terrific.
Did not have a single turnover after eight turnovers against Philly.
Jabari had that terrible game, made a bunch of winning
(00:45):
plays tonight, Reed Sheppard getting closing minutes, an abysmal first
half for Reid just like last game, and then a
really good second half for Reid again very similar. And
Amen Thompson just basically the un you know, unheralded hero
really has been terrific on ball. We're going to talk
about all of those things, but I'm here with Ben Doubos. Ben,
(01:06):
I mean, this was just a really, really big win
at a time when they needed it.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
This was as much of a schedule loss on paper
as you'll ever see night two of a road back
to back against the second best team in the NBA
by record, and they won without too much drama. I mean,
I know when the Pistons got it to four in
the fourth quarter, it got a little tight, but honestly,
the last two minutes, I feel like the Rockets were
ninety nine percent plus the entire time, So hard to
(01:31):
complain about that. And to me, it goes right up
there with the Denver game in December as the best
wins of this entire season. And Dave, there's a clear
common thread between that Nuggets game right before Christmas and tonight,
and it's the look in Kevin Durant's high. He went
out there tonight just playing with a purpose, and I
think it started with the way last night's game ended,
(01:52):
the postgame interview that he did. I'm quoting from a
big starge on Twitter. It was a lot of bullshit
I was doing tonight. He took accountability, put it on
himself because of the eight turnovers, including the one in
the final minute that was just a killer when the
Rockets had the ball up to with fifty seconds left,
Lazy passed to Shingoon. It led to the Maxi layup
(02:12):
that tied the game and ultimately sent it to overtime.
So just a huge splip. Kevin Durant took accountability, and
you could tell tonight not just the shots that he made,
but he was getting into it with fans, with the
Detroit bench a little bit in terms of the chippiness
reminiscent of what he did with Tim Hardway Junior and
Bruce Brown and Denver in that game I referenced a
month ago. When the Rockets have this version of Kevin Durant,
(02:35):
when he is locked in like he was tonight, they're
gonna win almost every time. And if you want to
believe in this team in the playoffs, this is what
you hang your hat on. The fact that when the
games are more meaningful and more spread out. You know,
someone undoubtedly asked, well, why doesn't Kevin play like that
every night? Guys? The NBA season is marathon and he's
thirty seven years old. He's got to pick his spots.
(02:57):
This was a spot that he picked. And if you
want to buy in on the Rockets and the big picture,
the idea is just get it to April, be relatively
healthy and have this version of Kevin Durant come out
every second or third night when the stakes are at
their highest. I'm not saying for sure that's what's gonna happen,
but if you want to have hope, this is where
you have hope.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Yeah, I got I gotta say.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
I mean, thirty seven year old second game of back
to back plays almost forty one minutes tonight was so good.
I think there was a point in the third quarter
where he hit back to back threes and the one
both of them over Jalen Duran, but he the second
one just did that stare down, which should be a
meme at this point. Man, I really thought it was
hilarious because he just really gave him an eye, a
(03:39):
side eye as he walked here, you know, went back
up the floor eleven of nineteen from the field, five
of eleven, from three to five of six from the line.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
Katie. There was a time where I'm just like this.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
Dude's a cheat code. Like he was so good tonight. Look,
I know it's gonna be be looked at his as
shade at Shengun, But I mean I noticed the NBA
has an MVP LAT and they put Shangun back on
it look no disrespect to Shangun.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
He's been good. Katie is the MVP of this team.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
Like it's very very clear to me that that's the
best player on this team and the guy who's most
recent on for their wins, and he needs to get
more credit. At thirty seven years old, he is really
been a force for this team.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
It showed up in the All Star voting too. The
players I think had KD fifth and Shangoon was basically
in the just receiving votes. I want to say thirty
second basically just one or two is what that means.
So you can tell based on the scouting report that
regardless of the narratives that are out there, Kevin Durant
and it's deserved. This is a fifteen time All Star
(04:40):
about to be sixteen times former MVP that can still
go out and put up thirty even on nine two
of a road back to back. This is one of
the greatest players in the history of the game. And
that's not a shot at Shangoon. I just think sometimes
it's easier to focus on the young guys with the
rockets because they're up and coming and everybody wants a
new narrative, a new tour to sort of push or celebrate.
(05:02):
But Kevin Durant, even at thirty seven years old, it's remarkable.
I mean beyond just the shot making, think about the
fitness to have his body in this shape to where
he's playing I think top five in the NBA in minutes.
This is night two of a road back to back
for him to have the fitness. And this wasn't just
a game in which he got hot but gave it
back defensively. No, he competed defensively. We saw him get
(05:24):
into it with the pistons all night long. Just the
physical conditioning that it takes just a special, special player
and it's not a shot at any other player on
the rockets. It's just a reminder that he is that
level of player, even now in year nineteen at age
thirty seven.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
Yeah, it's this is this is a you know, I
don't want to go into that whole balance thing of
you know, the future versus win now again, but you
realize this is a very special player, as you said,
and there is a win now element.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
You can't waste this.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
And someone pointed out in the chat right now after
eight turnovers last night tonight zero.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
Exactly zero LD.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
He was close to a couple. But the point is
there was a clear focus, well focus across the board,
but starting with ball security.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Yeah, his shot his shot making is outrageous. You know,
it's like a weight of turning back when you need
an escape or something the offense breaks down. KD can
get a shot off at any point. It's kind of crazy.
We'll definitely talk more about Katie. We got to We'll
go down the list a little bit here. I want
to talk about him and Thompson. Yeah, I bet I
know you weren't here yesterday. You know, I was talking
(06:27):
with Beama Thug David Wiener and just really despite the
game was so negative and so much, so many negative
things to talk about in that game, one thing that
was really positive was a men Thompson had nine assists
I believe, zero turnovers up till the very last second
in overtime and was really good on ball like drive
kick to read, drive kick to Jabari like he was.
(06:48):
He was excellent at that. I thought we saw more
of that again tonight. A man had seven assists, one turnover,
was a plus eleven, had fifteen points, nine boards, seven assists.
He was really good in this game, and he doesn't
get the credit because he's not a KD and he
doesn't do like you know, he's not a Shngure's. There's
a difference there between those guys. But he is bringing
(07:10):
it on both ends of the floor. And I thought
A Men was terrific tonight.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
And the craft and the touch that he's showing in
the in between areas. He had at least two shots
in the twelve to fifteen foot range tonight that I
was stunned went in. The old men probably wouldn't have
been close, and you know, I saw them when they
left his hand, I sort of recoiled and he nailed them.
He's made so much progress. The free throws reflect this
as well. He hasn't come around as a three point shooter,
but I think that's mass the fact that he has
(07:36):
improved as an overall shooter relative to the last couple
of years, and since Thanksgiving he's been an all star
level player. I've said it before, I'll say it again.
He is giving them that level of impact and I
really thought it an underrated talking point. From that Philadelphia game,
the Rockets took him out at the five minute mark.
I think he needed a break, but they didn't get
(07:57):
him in until forty seven seconds left, when it was
a one or two point game, and before that they
led by seven or eight. I think they led by
eight when they took him out with five minutes laps.
He probably needed a break and the Rockets had two
timeouts go unused, and I think, well, I know inside
the building it was noticed, and I would be surprised
(08:18):
to make the same mistake again. I understand keeping one
time out because you need the ability to advance the
ball in the final ten seconds. It's an important just
in case. But they should have called a timeout earlier
last night in the fourth quarter to get a men
back in because they needed his defense at the point
of attack on Tyrese Maxie. They also needed another ball
hindler on offense on a night that Katie was very
(08:38):
turnover prone. And I don't think it's a coincidence that,
you know, they were so close to winning last night
as well, and the game sort of unraveled in that
period of the fourth quarter when a men was on
the bitch. He is so impactful on both ends of
the floor, and he didn't say it. I don't think
he was actually interviewed last night, but I'm sure that
sort of rubbed him the wrong way that he was
at the scorer's table when that game got away from
the Rockets, and it looked like he played with a
(09:00):
purpose tonight as well. To quote someone in the shot.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Yeah, absolutely, And well, we can talk about any of
these players, Kadium and more. I want to just kind
of go down the list as well. We want to
talk about Reed Shepherd read Shepard. This is the third
straight game where I thought he was kind of ugly
in the first half for different reasons. Tonight he just
couldn't make a shot. I thought there was only one
or two instances where the defense was an issue in
the first half, at least that I noticed. I didn't
(09:24):
think it was that significant. But again in that second
half he comes in and they make a run and
huge shout out to Clint Coppella. He's not going to
get much credit for this game, but he has been
a nice pairing with Reid. As a matter of fact,
I think it was late third, might have been early fourth.
I'm pretty sure it was third, but there was a
play where Jenkins took Reed went at Reed baseline seemed
(09:49):
to beat him and you know, we couldn't block that shot,
and Capella just came out of nowhere and just swatted
that thing like he is a great back line defender
for Reid and read. The funny thing is ree was
six of fifteen tonight and one of seven from three.
Nothing special it was. It was basically like Jabari stat
line from before. It's like flirting versus harassment right now
(10:10):
in my personal opinion. But he wasn't the true, you
know that great in that regard. But he made some
really big shots, including with two minutes to go, a
beautiful sort of heavy where he took out kid and
then got a layup. He made I thought, some winning
plays in that second half, so huge shout out to him.
It doesn't reflect in the box score if you're looking
(10:30):
at it, he's a minus five. And like I said that,
the field goal attempts, you know, quite inefficient tonight. But
Reid played really well. I give him a lot of credit.
And to add to this before I kick it to you, man,
he may played him more in that extra clutch time
stretch and I think that was another big difference tonight.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Yeah, and someone in the chat mentioned that he may
heard the backlash and decided to play read more minutes.
I mean, that'd be a fun narrative, but I think
in reality, you didn't have Harry Easton and ury Anfonty
Smith tonight because of back to back, and so I
think that really limited his options. Nonetheless, I think the
play he made to close out the game that tribe
that has he. No one else on the Rockets can
make that play, especially without Fred bin Fleet. That type
(11:12):
of handle shot making in tight spaces, it's something that
Katie and Shangoon, for all of their skills, that's not
really their game. That's something you need a smaller shift
to your guy, and even a men might be a
little too loose with his handle right now to pull
that off. And also defenders will sag off a little
bit in one on one until he expands the range
(11:33):
beyond fifteen feet. But I think for Reed to take
advantage of this opportunity, that's massive. And I also think
the fact that defensively, look, this game was scary early
in the fourth quarter when the Pistons cut it from
fourteen to four like two minutes in, but they closed
out the game with Reed, Shepherd and all par in
Shangoon and the Pistons didn't go off. I mean, you know,
(11:54):
they missed some threes. I guess you can point to that.
But I think for this coaching staff, the fear is
if you have both Reed Shepherd and all for In
Shangoon on the floor in super high leverage minutes. And
this is more a reflection of Shingoon's recent form. I
think he was better defensively at the start of this season.
I think it's gotten worse for whatever reason the last
few weeks. But I think with Shangoon in the form
(12:16):
that he's been in of late defensively and Reid as
young and undersized as he is, the fear from the
coaching staff is can we get away with having both
of these guys on the floor in super high leverage
possessions where the other team is giving it everything they
have with their best players. Is it just going to
be too many players to hunt Tonight? They held up.
It's not, you know, some massive sample, it's not conclusive,
(12:39):
but it's the second best team in the NBA on record,
and so I think it's a game that you might
remember at the end of the year because it's the
type of game that builds confidence not just for the
players in it, but for the coaching staff as well.
Like I think because of the Tari and DFS injuries,
they didn't have much of a choice tonight, but imo
Udoka allowed Red and Shangoon to close together and it worked.
(12:59):
I think what was it? It was read Shingoon, Kdi,
Jabari and Josh or Jo and then a man and
then a man.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. And by the way, Josh had
a couple of really.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
Big three Yeah, Josh had two huge threes in the
first in the fourth quarter to push it back.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
Yes, And I want to talk about Jabari as well well,
Like I said, we can, we can hop back to
any of these other players. Jabari had a terrible game
shooting in the last game. I thought his I thought
people clowning his defense or I really do think that
that's exaggerated.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
I don't.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
I don't really see that.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
I think he may trust him defensively or certainly feels
comfortable with him making the right decisions. Is him, He's
not going to get beat from time to time. I
thought he was excellent today. You know, he played with
himself five of nine from the field, just one of
three from from deep, missed his first two and then
hit that one clutch when you're you're you're referring to.
But ten rebounds, had two steals, two blocks, and you know,
(13:53):
Ben made several winning plays in the fourth quarter. I
jotted a few of him down, but I could go
down the list. But one of the ones that was
I thought super impressive was I think he had a
block on one end. They went down the floor and
they kicked at Jabari cunning baseline. He went under the
defense through a beautiful pass to a cutting a kogi
who scored, and it was like whoa is that? You know,
(14:16):
Albrin Smith Junior, Like it was like a really you
know a pass you just don't see him normally make.
I was really impressed with Jabari today. It wasn't like
some I'm not saying Jabari is the hero of the game,
but I just coming off of that performance. He made
a lot of winning plays against a really really good team.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Yeah, combined fourteen rebounds, blocks and steals. And we talked
earlier today. I did a little bit of a deep
dive into the data on Jabari because he's been such
a lightning rod of late, and it's really interesting when
you look at his month of January, when he'll be
the first to tell you he should be shooting better,
that's what jumps off the page. He hasn't been making shots,
But when you look at how his performance impacts the team,
(14:57):
Jabbari has actually slept much more defensively this month than offensively.
So for the season overall, Jabari is number one on
the Rockets in offensive rating on versus off in terms
of how the team performs when he plays versus how
they perform when he sits. And it's something I've had
conversations dating back to previous seasons with the Rockets about
(15:19):
Shabari and they've noticed this as well, and they admit
that it's hard to quantify because it's not like he's,
you know, a big time shot maker or an elite
three point shooter by percentage, so it's not like he's
just going out and dominating these minutes. He's averaged consistently
like twelve to fifteen points per game, which is okay,
but nothing that jumps off the page. But I think
(15:39):
what happens what they would argue, and I think they're right,
is it offensively because he's respected as a shooter, because
he doesn't make bad decisions, he doesn't turn the ball over.
He's generally a decent passer. At least he's not gonna,
you know, have the live ball turnovers that cripple you,
because he's tall enough to finish at any spot on
(16:01):
the floor and has the shooting range to conceivably do that.
Because he doesn't need the ball to be effective. It's
not that Jabari is dominating these games offensively by any means,
but he allows the other guys to win their minutes
and to make plays, and so that's why, on the balance,
he's really effective offensively. Now there's some games where you
like the Portland game where he was O eight in
the fourth quarter. Yeah, like that's an exception to the rule.
(16:23):
It was so off the rails that the Blazers just
stopped guarding him, and so yeah, like in that quarter.
He's certainly not a productive offensive player, I'll admit that.
But on the balance, he provides a lot of value offensively,
to the point where on off defferential he still leads
this team for the season, and even in January when
he struggled to shoot, he's still third best, trailing only
Kadi and Shingoon. But defensively for the season overall, he's
(16:46):
middle of the pack amongst the Rockets rotation players. In January,
he is dead last. Going into tonight, the Rockets defensive
rating when Shabari sits is ninety eight. That would be
by far the best in the entire NBA. When he plays,
their defensive rating is one fourteen, which is middle of
the pack. So that is a massive swing sixteen points.
(17:06):
And what I think is just this month, you're saying, right, yeah,
there's just Fanruary, yeah, and so like, definitely, Javari has
had an underwhelming month. That's why I'm splitting off January.
He's definitely underachieved, but the data shows you it's hurt
the Rockets much more defensively than offensively. And I think
the reason why offensively he provides enough value just based
on the totality of his package. He doesn't make mistakes.
He's respected as a shooter that he still gives Kadie
(17:29):
and Shingoon and Read and your top shelf offensive players
opportunities to make plays, whereas defensively, and he may has
talked about the body language, how it's slipped from Javari
at times. I think when Jabari doesn't see the ball
go through the net, and he's in his head seeing
these bricks and knowing, you know, what's out there on
social media and whatnot. I think that's when it takes
a toll on his overall effort. And I think that's
(17:51):
what's happened this month. And I think tonight what we
saw from the outset, and I think Kadi set the tone.
Go out and control what you can control. He played disc,
he played within himself, he crashed the glass, he was
a shot blocker, and I think with Jabari that's that's
the presence you need from him. And he's just twenty
two years old. This isn't necessarily shocking. I mean, it
(18:12):
happens to a lot of young players, but I just
think with Jabori in specific, because he's not really much
of an offensive creator. When the shots don't go in,
it's easy for him to get down on himself because
he doesn't really have another reliable way to score. And
when he gets down on himself, you see it in
the defensive metrics.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
Yeah, it's interesting to see that.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
As far as the team concept, I wonder how much
of that is threes and things of that nature.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
We'll have to take a look at that.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
You know, it's I want to talk a little bit
about shanng Goun as well in this game. I know
people have talked about whether he's still injured. I have
a hard time believing that it's been five games since,
you know, he came back and from the ankle injury.
If he is still injured, I think he should sit.
I thought tonight he was certainly efficient six of eleven
from the field, you know, certainly by his standards, seven
(18:57):
of ten from the line, which is in line with
his normal percentages seventy percent. But this is just a
really bad matchup for Shangoon. I would obviously if the
Rockets are admirer a playoff series with Detroit, it's a
good sign, right. But yeah, but you know, I would
hate to be in a playoff matchup with this team
with Shangun frankly lined up against those two guys, they're
(19:18):
really good at doing the things that slow Shangoon down,
which is forced him to pick up his dribble. He
tries to bully you, and it's very tough to bully
Duran and Isaiah Stewart. I thought we saw a lot
of that tonight. Zero rebounds in the first half for
Shanguon picked up one in the second half, so finished
with one rebound five turnovers to go with his five assists.
(19:40):
I'm not saying Shangun was terrible today. I just did
not love the overall effort against a team where the
whole game forty eight minutes is going to be super physical.
I thought in that when they brought him back into
the fourth quarter, they started to lose that lead a
little bit. You saw some tweets about em, you know,
kind of going into Shangoon on some sort of defensive
playff think when maybe durn Or Stewart scored over him again.
(20:02):
I don't know if it's the ankle or what. He
was efficient offensively, but just you weren't getting a whole
lot of the things you expect from a center. This
is you know, they put him on a Sir Thompson
to start the game.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
He didn't.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
He didn't guard durn At you know, for the most part,
and was in drop a lot as well. So I
would have expected, frankly, more rebounds tonight.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Yeah, I would have as well. I guess Jabari took
some of them. But as far as the points about
his ankle. I mean, his ankle looked just fine on
the poster he had in the fourth quarter, so he
was able to explode then. To me, it's just a
continuation of what we've seen really since December. I feel
like when this team really struggled a month ago defensively,
(20:41):
now by and large, with a few exceptions, they picked
it back up this month. But it was Shingou not
defending the paint to the level he did in October
and November. And the silver lining is he's done it before.
I thought last year in particular, he was very good
and at times an anchor for this for the stense,
but for whatever reason, it hasn't been there, at least
(21:04):
not consistently for I'd say about six weeks really since
early December, and the ankle might be a small component
of it. I wonder more. You know, Shindoon's a guy
that had a very long off season with EuroBasket and
basically never shut down. You know, even before EuroBasket they
(21:24):
had a ton of training. I'm wondering if he's a
guy that really needs the All Star break and then
you get to the playoffs and the games are more
spread out to sort of get a second wind, because
to me, it seems like he looks like a guy
who's sort of picking his spots. And I think that's
more of a factor cumulative fatigue potentially than the ankle.
I don't think he's necessarily playing hurt, so to speak.
(21:46):
But I just year over year seeing the decline, seeing
how he was playing this time a year ago relative
to now in terms of just the intensity the motor.
I've seen him embrace the physicality at times in the past,
it felt like for the most part tonight he didn't.
I wonder if it's a guy who just doesn't really
have his legs. And hopefully the All Star break were
less than a month really just like what two and
(22:07):
a half three weeks from when they'll have over a
week off. Hopefully that helps games or worse spread out.
But for whatever reason, he just doesn't seem to have
the same motor right now.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
Yeah, I want to talk about this comment, truthinesssation or
whatever is saying. And he says he wishes we were
as in love with Reed's offenses as we are with
apparently Jabari's defense. You know, I don't know where that
comes from, because I saw some of that after, you know,
Beam and I talked last night. I do like Read
a lot. I think Reid's future is really good. I'm
(22:37):
absolutely not anti Reid in any way. I've been very
critical of Shangun. I'm not a huge believer in Shanghun.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
People know that.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
But as far as Reid's concerned, like I feel like
with some of those issues that he has, the offense
could be so special that it's easier to live with
some of that stuff. But in Reed's case, I don't
know where that comes from.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
I'm I think what.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
We're trying to talk about, or at least I have,
is why e May is you know, a little one
foot in, one foot out at times, because there are
games where it can be an issue defensively, and we're
only talking about the foundation of Emo Doka, his whole structure.
If he plays one guy who's getting scorched on defense consistently,
(23:19):
it kind of throws the whole thing out of whack,
Whereas you might be able to get away with an
offensive liability on the floor a little bit easier with
Emao O Dooka.
Speaker 4 (23:27):
So that's all. Well, I'm trying to point out I
believe in Read quite a bit, and to reiterate the
stats that I read off earlier. It's defensively where Jabari
has been particularly a nightmare this month. The data bears
that out. So no, I'm not trying to say Jabari
has been great defensively. No, the Rockets have been extremely
elite this month when Jabari sits on defense and middle
(23:47):
of the back what he plays. Yeah, there could be
some small sample sized theater to that, but no, I'm
not trying to praise Jabari's defense. It needs to be
better it was tonight. Hopefully that continues. By the way,
one other point on Shingoon that I want to I
do think that not having double big. You know, Clint
Capella had played very well in his minutes tonight, but
ima Udoka said earlier this week that they don't like
(24:08):
the double big with Shangoon and Capella nearly as much
as they do with Shinggoon and Steven Adams, and the
data has shown that they haven't been very good. And
I think it was a ninety six minute sample so
far this year, I want to say the Rockets were
like minus seven. So they haven't tried it, and the
responsibilities for Shangoon are a little bit different when he's
the primary center, as opposed to when he's playing with Steven,
and Steven's typically dropping back and Alpi's playing a little
(24:32):
bit more in space. Now it's not as if Alp
and Stephen were playing together every minute of every game
until Steven got hurt a week ago. So I'm certainly
not saying it's an excuse for everything, but I do
think in the short term it's a little bit of
an adjustment because now when Shinggoon plays, he's basically the
back line on most possessions. He's always the guy banging
with the likes of you know, Isaiah Stewart and Jalen
(24:54):
Duran and whoever the opposing bigs are for the other team,
Whereas sometimes in the past it was Steve even in
the minutes that Shingoon was playing, that was putting his
body through that physicality. So that is an adjustment in
the short term that Shingun's gonna have to go through.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
Yeah, you know, there's also like something with Shanhun to
me that and I talk to you about this Ben
at the time, it's so strange to me that he
does not guard Duran. I mean, it's not strange in
the in the sense of the alley oops and the
pick and rolls. I understand what he may is doing.
I definitely get it, but it's hard for me to say, Okay,
this is a head to head matchup Shangun versus durn
or this is a head to head matchup Shandun versus
(25:29):
Wemby when you know Shingun doesn't defend those players. It's
it's it's it's just an interesting different time. You know,
it's this is not a do you know Robinson versus
a team or e English a team anymore. It's it's
a different The NBA has changed so much.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
Well, and one way you can tell that someone is
not being genuine in a discussion of today's NBA is
when they look at things strictly as though it's a
one on one matchup or you know, I see all
the time, Oh, this proves somebody's not that good on defense. Well,
in today's NBA, it's all about the team. There are
(26:06):
so many switches, there's so many you know, possessions off
where teams are trying to sort of load manage their
stars so you don't see the star guarding the primary
for the other team. It's all about how it works
in the team construct, and then defensively, almost no one
is a stopper these days on the perimeter, between how
fast players are with the ball in their hands, between
(26:28):
the lack of physicality that most officials allow. You know,
there's a reason that free throw rates continue to increase.
It's all about funneling. It's about playing as a team
and sometimes you know, that's why I will give some
benefit of the doubt to ema Udoka, because you need
to talk to coaches and players to understand fully what
the assignments are on a given possession and what the
(26:49):
scheme is. Because it's not one on one. It's not
nearly as simple as the old NBA, and so that's why,
you know, if the team is insistent that you know
a player is doing his job or that another one isn't,
you know, I do give, you know, not unlimited grace,
but some grace for those comments because they know more
than we do. And it's just a much more complicated
(27:11):
game right now. It's not one on one. Everything is
you know, how it functions within a team construct, and
there's just a lot of information on the outside that
that we don't have and and you should just always
keep an open mind to that. I feel like a
lot of these you know clips, these these one on
ones where it goes viral on Twitter. I mean that's
the main purpose for it, to just send it viral
(27:32):
and then just one or two possessions clipped out of context.
It's not meant to be a good faith discussion. It's
meant to you know, it's starting with a conclusion and
cherry picking evidence to backfill. And I think defense in
the modern NBA is complicated enough that you need to
have at least somewhat of an open mind to try
and better understand what we're seeing.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
Yeah, it's funny you say that because somebody has sent me.
A friend, kind of more of a casual NBA fan,
sent me the Vince Carter dunk over Frederick Weiss and
you know, the Olympics way back when. I can't remember
when it was, but he sent me the whole clip
and I was watching it and I was kind of thinking,
these are some of the best we had, and they're
moving kind of slow compared to some of the games
that I see right now, and I'm not I love
(28:15):
eighties and nineties basketball and in the early two thousands,
so I'm not blasting any era, but it has gotten
so insanely. Athletic defense is very tough, so it's a
really good point. I want to give one other shout
out Jayshaun Taitate tonight. I thought, you know, with no
Tari and no DFS tonight, second game of a back
to back, both those guys resting. I thought Tate played
(28:35):
pretty well. I just won a four from the field,
nothing super special. I actually had three turnovers. I didn't
even notice that, but I just thought he came in
hit hit one three, which was I thought pretty important
early on. Just shout out to Tate. You know, the
stay ready group. I thought he did a good job.
Next game is Memphis. I think they come home for that.
You know, none of these games are easy, so I'm
(28:56):
not chalking this up as a w but it is
easier compared to a lot of the game they've played lately.
I'm not sure who all is out. I know Edie's out.
I think Morant might be. I'm not sure on that.
Any thoughts on that, because that's sort of the layup
before you come home and face Wemby and the Spurs again,
or you stay.
Speaker 3 (29:14):
Home for that.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
Yeah, I'm glad you have an extra day of rest
because this week this has been three heavyweight fights in
a row. Certainly Santorio and Detroit on paper, those are
really good teams. But Philadelphia with Maxi and Ebid both playing,
is a really good team as well, especially on the road.
So you've had three big games in a four night span,
and so I'm glad they have an extra day of rest.
(29:37):
They can probably get into practice on Sunday. That would
be my guests, because I think this stretch took a
lot out of them. But in the grand scheme, it's
a good time to be a fan. You know, since
that that road trip where they went zero and three
and it felt like the bottom was falling out, they've
won five of seven cents four and one homestand and
now you know this stretch of three games and four
nights Spurs sixers Pistons two on the road. If anybody,
(30:02):
if you had told people a few days ago that
the Rockets would go two and one, anybody who would
have turned that down is an idiot, Like they could
have gone three, Oh, it would be wonderful, But to
get two wins out of three in this gauntlet of
a stretch is is really difficult, especially you know earlier
this year they had the issues with second night of
back to backs. They seem to have figured that out.
They're playing with more intensity, so cautiously optimistic. You know,
(30:25):
the last home stand they did a good job of
taking care of business against teams like the Bulls, the Pelicans,
the Timberwolves without Aunt, you know, the teams that they
should beat on paper, and so hopefully the Grizzlies are
a continuation of that and whatever. Comment before we close out,
I say a comment in the chat referring I think
to our previous comments team defense or one on one
defense both, because these days one on one defense and
(30:45):
team defense are one and the same. I think that's
or there's a lot of overlap. I think that's what
we're trying to get to. It's not as simple as
it used to be because one on one, especially with
the way the games are officiated, with how quick, especially
perimeter players are, almost any defender in the league's going
to be a bad spot. It's about the interconnected nature
and how all the pieces fit together. That's what we're
talking about.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
Five for the next seven at home, so good setup
for the Rockets really big win. I would have thought
it would have been flipped. Last thing. I'll ask you, Ben,
I don't want me to keep you here, but somebody
that I had mentioned, please refer to it or talk
about this, because I talked about it with Mima as
well yesterday. Yannis, anything deadline, anything you think or feel
as we get closer to it.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
I think the Jose Alvarado thing could potentially have some lags.
I don't know if there's any like traction on a deal,
but I do think he's a type of player that
they like. I think his archetype, you know, the hard
nosed intensity that he plays with defensively. It's annoyed the
Rockets at times in the past, but I think it's
also something that email Judoka wants the Rockets to do
two other teams, so if he's available for cheap I
(31:45):
could see the Rockets exploring something like that, but I
haven't gotten any sense that anything big is in the works.
I saw that comment too, someone said Giannis, I have
not heard anything inside Toyotas there that makes me think
that anything like that is any more close. I think
the Rockets they feel like they still have a chance
this season, but that they're set up to be good
for a very long time, and every conversation I have
(32:07):
they mentioned the length of the window and right now
you're set up to be a sustainable contender, which is
what they've said for years. Dave, I'm sure you've had
the same conversations that I have, and so anything that
changes the timeline dramatically. You know, they acquired Kevin Durant,
but it didn't change the timeline, not saying they would
never change the timeline. If the price is low enough,
you can't rule it out. But I still think the
(32:29):
focus is on making this window as long as it
possibly can be and hopefully in some of those years
the bounces go your way.
Speaker 3 (32:37):
Awesome. That is Bendmos.
Speaker 1 (32:38):
You can follow them on Twitter at Bendemos and Believe
on Blue Sky same handle, right Ben, and as well
you can read him on Rockets Wire at USA Today
and on Clutch Fans. Ben, appreciate you doing this and
we'll be back Grizzlies Monday.
Speaker 2 (32:50):
Correigt Yep, all right.
Speaker 3 (32:52):
We will see all them. Thanks everybody for the support.
Welcome and everybody to the postgame. What a win, what
a big, big win. Rockets knock off the Pistons, the
number one team in the East, UH one eleven to
one oh four tonight, And to say this is a
shock is probably an understatement. The Rockets, the way they
played in Philly and the way it looked defensively for
(00:23):
them to come out and pretty much contain the Pistons tonight,
shut them down from three point range, and so many
positive things came out of this. Kevin Durant thirty two
points I believe he finished with tonight was just terrific.
Did not have a single turnover after eight turnovers against Philly.
Jabari had that terrible game, made a bunch of winning
(00:45):
plays tonight, Reed Sheppard getting closing minutes, an abysmal first
half for Reid just like last game, and then a
really good second half for Reid again very similar. And
Amen Thompson just basically the un you know, unheralded hero
really has been terrific on ball. We're going to talk
about all of those things, but I'm here with Ben Doubos. Ben,
(01:06):
I mean, this was just a really, really big win
at a time when they needed it.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
This was as much of a schedule loss on paper
as you'll ever see night two of a road back
to back against the second best team in the NBA
by record, and they won without too much drama. I mean,
I know when the Pistons got it to four in
the fourth quarter, it got a little tight, but honestly,
the last two minutes, I feel like the Rockets were
ninety nine percent plus the entire time, So hard to
(01:31):
complain about that. And to me, it goes right up
there with the Denver game in December as the best
wins of this entire season. And Dave, there's a clear
common thread between that Nuggets game right before Christmas and tonight,
and it's the look in Kevin Durant's high. He went
out there tonight just playing with a purpose, and I
think it started with the way last night's game ended,
(01:52):
the postgame interview that he did. I'm quoting from a
big starge on Twitter. It was a lot of bullshit
I was doing tonight. He took accountability, put it on
himself because of the eight turnovers, including the one in
the final minute that was just a killer when the
Rockets had the ball up to with fifty seconds left,
Lazy passed to Shingoon. It led to the Maxi layup
(02:12):
that tied the game and ultimately sent it to overtime.
So just a huge splip. Kevin Durant took accountability, and
you could tell tonight not just the shots that he made,
but he was getting into it with fans, with the
Detroit bench a little bit in terms of the chippiness
reminiscent of what he did with Tim Hardway Junior and
Bruce Brown and Denver in that game I referenced a
month ago. When the Rockets have this version of Kevin Durant,
(02:35):
when he is locked in like he was tonight, they're
gonna win almost every time. And if you want to
believe in this team in the playoffs, this is what
you hang your hat on. The fact that when the
games are more meaningful and more spread out. You know,
someone undoubtedly asked, well, why doesn't Kevin play like that
every night? Guys? The NBA season is marathon and he's
thirty seven years old. He's got to pick his spots.
(02:57):
This was a spot that he picked. And if you
want to buy in on the Rockets and the big picture,
the idea is just get it to April, be relatively
healthy and have this version of Kevin Durant come out
every second or third night when the stakes are at
their highest. I'm not saying for sure that's what's gonna happen,
but if you want to have hope, this is where
you have hope.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Yeah, I got I gotta say.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
I mean, thirty seven year old second game of back
to back plays almost forty one minutes tonight was so good.
I think there was a point in the third quarter
where he hit back to back threes and the one
both of them over Jalen Duran, but he the second
one just did that stare down, which should be a
meme at this point. Man, I really thought it was
hilarious because he just really gave him an eye, a
(03:39):
side eye as he walked here, you know, went back
up the floor eleven of nineteen from the field, five
of eleven, from three to five of six from the line.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
Katie. There was a time where I'm just like this.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
Dude's a cheat code. Like he was so good tonight. Look,
I know it's gonna be be looked at his as
shade at Shengun, But I mean I noticed the NBA
has an MVP LAT and they put Shangun back on
it look no disrespect to Shangun.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
He's been good. Katie is the MVP of this team.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
Like it's very very clear to me that that's the
best player on this team and the guy who's most
recent on for their wins, and he needs to get
more credit. At thirty seven years old, he is really
been a force for this team.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
It showed up in the All Star voting too. The
players I think had KD fifth and Shangoon was basically
in the just receiving votes. I want to say thirty
second basically just one or two is what that means.
So you can tell based on the scouting report that
regardless of the narratives that are out there, Kevin Durant
and it's deserved. This is a fifteen time All Star
(04:40):
about to be sixteen times former MVP that can still
go out and put up thirty even on nine two
of a road back to back. This is one of
the greatest players in the history of the game. And
that's not a shot at Shangoon. I just think sometimes
it's easier to focus on the young guys with the
rockets because they're up and coming and everybody wants a
new narrative, a new tour to sort of push or celebrate.
(05:02):
But Kevin Durant, even at thirty seven years old, it's remarkable.
I mean beyond just the shot making, think about the
fitness to have his body in this shape to where
he's playing I think top five in the NBA in minutes.
This is night two of a road back to back
for him to have the fitness. And this wasn't just
a game in which he got hot but gave it
back defensively. No, he competed defensively. We saw him get
(05:24):
into it with the pistons all night long. Just the
physical conditioning that it takes just a special, special player
and it's not a shot at any other player on
the rockets. It's just a reminder that he is that
level of player, even now in year nineteen at age
thirty seven.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
Yeah, it's this is this is a you know, I
don't want to go into that whole balance thing of
you know, the future versus win now again, but you
realize this is a very special player, as you said,
and there is a win now element.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
You can't waste this.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
And someone pointed out in the chat right now after
eight turnovers last night tonight zero.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
Exactly zero LD.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
He was close to a couple. But the point is
there was a clear focus, well focus across the board,
but starting with ball security.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Yeah, his shot his shot making is outrageous. You know,
it's like a weight of turning back when you need
an escape or something the offense breaks down. KD can
get a shot off at any point. It's kind of crazy.
We'll definitely talk more about Katie. We got to We'll
go down the list a little bit here. I want
to talk about him and Thompson. Yeah, I bet I
know you weren't here yesterday. You know, I was talking
(06:27):
with Beama Thug David Wiener and just really despite the
game was so negative and so much, so many negative
things to talk about in that game, one thing that
was really positive was a men Thompson had nine assists
I believe, zero turnovers up till the very last second
in overtime and was really good on ball like drive
kick to read, drive kick to Jabari like he was.
(06:48):
He was excellent at that. I thought we saw more
of that again tonight. A man had seven assists, one turnover,
was a plus eleven, had fifteen points, nine boards, seven assists.
He was really good in this game, and he doesn't
get the credit because he's not a KD and he
doesn't do like you know, he's not a Shngure's. There's
a difference there between those guys. But he is bringing
(07:10):
it on both ends of the floor. And I thought
A Men was terrific tonight.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
And the craft and the touch that he's showing in
the in between areas. He had at least two shots
in the twelve to fifteen foot range tonight that I
was stunned went in. The old men probably wouldn't have
been close, and you know, I saw them when they
left his hand, I sort of recoiled and he nailed them.
He's made so much progress. The free throws reflect this
as well. He hasn't come around as a three point shooter,
but I think that's mass the fact that he has
(07:36):
improved as an overall shooter relative to the last couple
of years, and since Thanksgiving he's been an all star
level player. I've said it before, I'll say it again.
He is giving them that level of impact and I
really thought it an underrated talking point. From that Philadelphia game,
the Rockets took him out at the five minute mark.
I think he needed a break, but they didn't get
(07:57):
him in until forty seven seconds left, when it was
a one or two point game, and before that they
led by seven or eight. I think they led by
eight when they took him out with five minutes laps.
He probably needed a break and the Rockets had two
timeouts go unused, and I think, well, I know inside
the building it was noticed, and I would be surprised
(08:18):
to make the same mistake again. I understand keeping one
time out because you need the ability to advance the
ball in the final ten seconds. It's an important just
in case. But they should have called a timeout earlier
last night in the fourth quarter to get a men
back in because they needed his defense at the point
of attack on Tyrese Maxie. They also needed another ball
hindler on offense on a night that Katie was very
(08:38):
turnover prone. And I don't think it's a coincidence that,
you know, they were so close to winning last night
as well, and the game sort of unraveled in that
period of the fourth quarter when a men was on
the bitch. He is so impactful on both ends of
the floor, and he didn't say it. I don't think
he was actually interviewed last night, but I'm sure that
sort of rubbed him the wrong way that he was
at the scorer's table when that game got away from
the Rockets, and it looked like he played with a
(09:00):
purpose tonight as well. To quote someone in the shot.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Yeah, absolutely, And well, we can talk about any of
these players, Kadium and more. I want to just kind
of go down the list as well. We want to
talk about Reed Shepherd read Shepard. This is the third
straight game where I thought he was kind of ugly
in the first half for different reasons. Tonight he just
couldn't make a shot. I thought there was only one
or two instances where the defense was an issue in
the first half, at least that I noticed. I didn't
(09:24):
think it was that significant. But again in that second
half he comes in and they make a run and
huge shout out to Clint Coppella. He's not going to
get much credit for this game, but he has been
a nice pairing with Reid. As a matter of fact,
I think it was late third, might have been early fourth.
I'm pretty sure it was third, but there was a
play where Jenkins took Reed went at Reed baseline seemed
(09:49):
to beat him and you know, we couldn't block that shot,
and Capella just came out of nowhere and just swatted
that thing like he is a great back line defender
for Reid and read. The funny thing is ree was
six of fifteen tonight and one of seven from three.
Nothing special it was. It was basically like Jabari stat
line from before. It's like flirting versus harassment right now
(10:10):
in my personal opinion. But he wasn't the true, you
know that great in that regard. But he made some
really big shots, including with two minutes to go, a
beautiful sort of heavy where he took out kid and
then got a layup. He made I thought, some winning
plays in that second half, so huge shout out to him.
It doesn't reflect in the box score if you're looking
(10:30):
at it, he's a minus five. And like I said that,
the field goal attempts, you know, quite inefficient tonight. But
Reid played really well. I give him a lot of credit.
And to add to this before I kick it to you, man,
he may played him more in that extra clutch time
stretch and I think that was another big difference tonight.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Yeah, and someone in the chat mentioned that he may
heard the backlash and decided to play read more minutes.
I mean, that'd be a fun narrative, but I think
in reality, you didn't have Harry Easton and ury Anfonty
Smith tonight because of back to back, and so I
think that really limited his options. Nonetheless, I think the
play he made to close out the game that tribe
that has he. No one else on the Rockets can
make that play, especially without Fred bin Fleet. That type
(11:12):
of handle shot making in tight spaces, it's something that
Katie and Shangoon, for all of their skills, that's not
really their game. That's something you need a smaller shift
to your guy, and even a men might be a
little too loose with his handle right now to pull
that off. And also defenders will sag off a little
bit in one on one until he expands the range
(11:33):
beyond fifteen feet. But I think for Reed to take
advantage of this opportunity, that's massive. And I also think
the fact that defensively, look, this game was scary early
in the fourth quarter when the Pistons cut it from
fourteen to four like two minutes in, but they closed
out the game with Reed, Shepherd and all par in
Shangoon and the Pistons didn't go off. I mean, you know,
(11:54):
they missed some threes. I guess you can point to that.
But I think for this coaching staff, the fear is
if you have both Reed Shepherd and all for In
Shangoon on the floor in super high leverage minutes. And
this is more a reflection of Shingoon's recent form. I
think he was better defensively at the start of this season.
I think it's gotten worse for whatever reason the last
few weeks. But I think with Shangoon in the form
(12:16):
that he's been in of late defensively and Reid as
young and undersized as he is, the fear from the
coaching staff is can we get away with having both
of these guys on the floor in super high leverage
possessions where the other team is giving it everything they
have with their best players. Is it just going to
be too many players to hunt Tonight? They held up.
It's not, you know, some massive sample, it's not conclusive,
(12:39):
but it's the second best team in the NBA on record,
and so I think it's a game that you might
remember at the end of the year because it's the
type of game that builds confidence not just for the
players in it, but for the coaching staff as well.
Like I think because of the Tari and DFS injuries,
they didn't have much of a choice tonight, but imo
Udoka allowed Red and Shangoon to close together and it worked.
(12:59):
I think what was it? It was read Shingoon, Kdi,
Jabari and Josh or Jo and then a man and
then a man.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. And by the way, Josh had
a couple of really.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
Big three Yeah, Josh had two huge threes in the
first in the fourth quarter to push it back.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
Yes, And I want to talk about Jabari as well well,
Like I said, we can, we can hop back to
any of these other players. Jabari had a terrible game
shooting in the last game. I thought his I thought
people clowning his defense or I really do think that
that's exaggerated.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
I don't.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
I don't really see that.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
I think he may trust him defensively or certainly feels
comfortable with him making the right decisions. Is him, He's
not going to get beat from time to time. I
thought he was excellent today. You know, he played with
himself five of nine from the field, just one of
three from from deep, missed his first two and then
hit that one clutch when you're you're you're referring to.
But ten rebounds, had two steals, two blocks, and you know,
(13:53):
Ben made several winning plays in the fourth quarter. I
jotted a few of him down, but I could go
down the list. But one of the ones that was
I thought super impressive was I think he had a
block on one end. They went down the floor and
they kicked at Jabari cunning baseline. He went under the
defense through a beautiful pass to a cutting a kogi
who scored, and it was like whoa is that? You know,
(14:16):
Albrin Smith Junior, Like it was like a really you
know a pass you just don't see him normally make.
I was really impressed with Jabari today. It wasn't like
some I'm not saying Jabari is the hero of the game,
but I just coming off of that performance. He made
a lot of winning plays against a really really good team.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Yeah, combined fourteen rebounds, blocks and steals. And we talked
earlier today. I did a little bit of a deep
dive into the data on Jabari because he's been such
a lightning rod of late, and it's really interesting when
you look at his month of January, when he'll be
the first to tell you he should be shooting better,
that's what jumps off the page. He hasn't been making shots,
But when you look at how his performance impacts the team,
(14:57):
Jabbari has actually slept much more defensively this month than offensively.
So for the season overall, Jabari is number one on
the Rockets in offensive rating on versus off in terms
of how the team performs when he plays versus how
they perform when he sits. And it's something I've had
conversations dating back to previous seasons with the Rockets about
(15:19):
Shabari and they've noticed this as well, and they admit
that it's hard to quantify because it's not like he's,
you know, a big time shot maker or an elite
three point shooter by percentage, so it's not like he's
just going out and dominating these minutes. He's averaged consistently
like twelve to fifteen points per game, which is okay,
but nothing that jumps off the page. But I think
(15:39):
what happens what they would argue, and I think they're right,
is it offensively because he's respected as a shooter, because
he doesn't make bad decisions, he doesn't turn the ball over.
He's generally a decent passer. At least he's not gonna,
you know, have the live ball turnovers that cripple you,
because he's tall enough to finish at any spot on
(16:01):
the floor and has the shooting range to conceivably do that.
Because he doesn't need the ball to be effective. It's
not that Jabari is dominating these games offensively by any means,
but he allows the other guys to win their minutes
and to make plays, and so that's why, on the balance,
he's really effective offensively. Now there's some games where you
like the Portland game where he was O eight in
the fourth quarter. Yeah, like that's an exception to the rule.
(16:23):
It was so off the rails that the Blazers just
stopped guarding him, and so yeah, like in that quarter.
He's certainly not a productive offensive player, I'll admit that.
But on the balance, he provides a lot of value offensively,
to the point where on off defferential he still leads
this team for the season, and even in January when
he struggled to shoot, he's still third best, trailing only
Kadi and Shingoon. But defensively for the season overall, he's
(16:46):
middle of the pack amongst the Rockets rotation players. In January,
he is dead last. Going into tonight, the Rockets defensive
rating when Shabari sits is ninety eight. That would be
by far the best in the entire NBA. When he plays,
their defensive rating is one fourteen, which is middle of
the pack. So that is a massive swing sixteen points.
(17:06):
And what I think is just this month, you're saying, right, yeah,
there's just Fanruary, yeah, and so like, definitely, Javari has
had an underwhelming month. That's why I'm splitting off January.
He's definitely underachieved, but the data shows you it's hurt
the Rockets much more defensively than offensively. And I think
the reason why offensively he provides enough value just based
on the totality of his package. He doesn't make mistakes.
He's respected as a shooter that he still gives Kadie
(17:29):
and Shingoon and Read and your top shelf offensive players
opportunities to make plays, whereas defensively, and he may has
talked about the body language, how it's slipped from Javari
at times. I think when Jabari doesn't see the ball
go through the net, and he's in his head seeing
these bricks and knowing, you know, what's out there on
social media and whatnot. I think that's when it takes
a toll on his overall effort. And I think that's
(17:51):
what's happened this month. And I think tonight what we
saw from the outset, and I think Kadi set the tone.
Go out and control what you can control. He played disc,
he played within himself, he crashed the glass, he was
a shot blocker, and I think with Jabari that's that's
the presence you need from him. And he's just twenty
two years old. This isn't necessarily shocking. I mean, it
(18:12):
happens to a lot of young players, but I just
think with Jabori in specific, because he's not really much
of an offensive creator. When the shots don't go in,
it's easy for him to get down on himself because
he doesn't really have another reliable way to score. And
when he gets down on himself, you see it in
the defensive metrics.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
Yeah, it's interesting to see that.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
As far as the team concept, I wonder how much
of that is threes and things of that nature.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
We'll have to take a look at that.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
You know, it's I want to talk a little bit
about shanng Goun as well in this game. I know
people have talked about whether he's still injured. I have
a hard time believing that it's been five games since,
you know, he came back and from the ankle injury.
If he is still injured, I think he should sit.
I thought tonight he was certainly efficient six of eleven
from the field, you know, certainly by his standards, seven
(18:57):
of ten from the line, which is in line with
his normal percentages seventy percent. But this is just a
really bad matchup for Shangoon. I would obviously if the
Rockets are admirer a playoff series with Detroit, it's a
good sign, right. But yeah, but you know, I would
hate to be in a playoff matchup with this team
with Shangun frankly lined up against those two guys, they're
(19:18):
really good at doing the things that slow Shangoon down,
which is forced him to pick up his dribble. He
tries to bully you, and it's very tough to bully
Duran and Isaiah Stewart. I thought we saw a lot
of that tonight. Zero rebounds in the first half for
Shanguon picked up one in the second half, so finished
with one rebound five turnovers to go with his five assists.
(19:40):
I'm not saying Shangun was terrible today. I just did
not love the overall effort against a team where the
whole game forty eight minutes is going to be super physical.
I thought in that when they brought him back into
the fourth quarter, they started to lose that lead a
little bit. You saw some tweets about em, you know,
kind of going into Shangoon on some sort of defensive
playff think when maybe durn Or Stewart scored over him again.
(20:02):
I don't know if it's the ankle or what. He
was efficient offensively, but just you weren't getting a whole
lot of the things you expect from a center. This
is you know, they put him on a Sir Thompson
to start the game.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
He didn't.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
He didn't guard durn At you know, for the most part,
and was in drop a lot as well. So I
would have expected, frankly, more rebounds tonight.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Yeah, I would have as well. I guess Jabari took
some of them. But as far as the points about
his ankle. I mean, his ankle looked just fine on
the poster he had in the fourth quarter, so he
was able to explode then. To me, it's just a
continuation of what we've seen really since December. I feel
like when this team really struggled a month ago defensively,
(20:41):
now by and large, with a few exceptions, they picked
it back up this month. But it was Shingou not
defending the paint to the level he did in October
and November. And the silver lining is he's done it before.
I thought last year in particular, he was very good
and at times an anchor for this for the stense,
but for whatever reason, it hasn't been there, at least
(21:04):
not consistently for I'd say about six weeks really since
early December, and the ankle might be a small component
of it. I wonder more. You know, Shindoon's a guy
that had a very long off season with EuroBasket and
basically never shut down. You know, even before EuroBasket they
(21:24):
had a ton of training. I'm wondering if he's a
guy that really needs the All Star break and then
you get to the playoffs and the games are more
spread out to sort of get a second wind, because
to me, it seems like he looks like a guy
who's sort of picking his spots. And I think that's
more of a factor cumulative fatigue potentially than the ankle.
I don't think he's necessarily playing hurt, so to speak.
(21:46):
But I just year over year seeing the decline, seeing
how he was playing this time a year ago relative
to now in terms of just the intensity the motor.
I've seen him embrace the physicality at times in the past,
it felt like for the most part tonight he didn't.
I wonder if it's a guy who just doesn't really
have his legs. And hopefully the All Star break were
less than a month really just like what two and
(22:07):
a half three weeks from when they'll have over a
week off. Hopefully that helps games or worse spread out.
But for whatever reason, he just doesn't seem to have
the same motor right now.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
Yeah, I want to talk about this comment, truthinesssation or
whatever is saying. And he says he wishes we were
as in love with Reed's offenses as we are with
apparently Jabari's defense. You know, I don't know where that
comes from, because I saw some of that after, you know,
Beam and I talked last night. I do like Read
a lot. I think Reid's future is really good. I'm
(22:37):
absolutely not anti Reid in any way. I've been very
critical of Shangun. I'm not a huge believer in Shanghun.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
People know that.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
But as far as Reid's concerned, like I feel like
with some of those issues that he has, the offense
could be so special that it's easier to live with
some of that stuff. But in Reed's case, I don't
know where that comes from.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
I'm I think what.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
We're trying to talk about, or at least I have,
is why e May is you know, a little one
foot in, one foot out at times, because there are
games where it can be an issue defensively, and we're
only talking about the foundation of Emo Doka, his whole structure.
If he plays one guy who's getting scorched on defense consistently,
(23:19):
it kind of throws the whole thing out of whack,
Whereas you might be able to get away with an
offensive liability on the floor a little bit easier with
Emao O Dooka.
Speaker 4 (23:27):
So that's all. Well, I'm trying to point out I
believe in Read quite a bit, and to reiterate the
stats that I read off earlier. It's defensively where Jabari
has been particularly a nightmare this month. The data bears
that out. So no, I'm not trying to say Jabari
has been great defensively. No, the Rockets have been extremely
elite this month when Jabari sits on defense and middle
(23:47):
of the back what he plays. Yeah, there could be
some small sample sized theater to that, but no, I'm
not trying to praise Jabari's defense. It needs to be
better it was tonight. Hopefully that continues. By the way,
one other point on Shingoon that I want to I
do think that not having double big. You know, Clint
Capella had played very well in his minutes tonight, but
ima Udoka said earlier this week that they don't like
(24:08):
the double big with Shangoon and Capella nearly as much
as they do with Shinggoon and Steven Adams, and the
data has shown that they haven't been very good. And
I think it was a ninety six minute sample so
far this year, I want to say the Rockets were
like minus seven. So they haven't tried it, and the
responsibilities for Shangoon are a little bit different when he's
the primary center, as opposed to when he's playing with Steven,
and Steven's typically dropping back and Alpi's playing a little
(24:32):
bit more in space. Now it's not as if Alp
and Stephen were playing together every minute of every game
until Steven got hurt a week ago. So I'm certainly
not saying it's an excuse for everything, but I do
think in the short term it's a little bit of
an adjustment because now when Shinggoon plays, he's basically the
back line on most possessions. He's always the guy banging
with the likes of you know, Isaiah Stewart and Jalen
(24:54):
Duran and whoever the opposing bigs are for the other team,
Whereas sometimes in the past it was Steve even in
the minutes that Shingoon was playing, that was putting his
body through that physicality. So that is an adjustment in
the short term that Shingun's gonna have to go through.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
Yeah, you know, there's also like something with Shanhun to
me that and I talk to you about this Ben
at the time, it's so strange to me that he
does not guard Duran. I mean, it's not strange in
the in the sense of the alley oops and the
pick and rolls. I understand what he may is doing.
I definitely get it, but it's hard for me to say, Okay,
this is a head to head matchup Shangun versus durn
or this is a head to head matchup Shandun versus
(25:29):
Wemby when you know Shingun doesn't defend those players. It's
it's it's it's just an interesting different time. You know,
it's this is not a do you know Robinson versus
a team or e English a team anymore. It's it's
a different The NBA has changed so much.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
Well, and one way you can tell that someone is
not being genuine in a discussion of today's NBA is
when they look at things strictly as though it's a
one on one matchup or you know, I see all
the time, Oh, this proves somebody's not that good on defense. Well,
in today's NBA, it's all about the team. There are
(26:06):
so many switches, there's so many you know, possessions off
where teams are trying to sort of load manage their
stars so you don't see the star guarding the primary
for the other team. It's all about how it works
in the team construct, and then defensively, almost no one
is a stopper these days on the perimeter, between how
fast players are with the ball in their hands, between
(26:28):
the lack of physicality that most officials allow. You know,
there's a reason that free throw rates continue to increase.
It's all about funneling. It's about playing as a team
and sometimes you know, that's why I will give some
benefit of the doubt to ema Udoka, because you need
to talk to coaches and players to understand fully what
the assignments are on a given possession and what the
(26:49):
scheme is. Because it's not one on one. It's not
nearly as simple as the old NBA, and so that's why,
you know, if the team is insistent that you know
a player is doing his job or that another one isn't,
you know, I do give, you know, not unlimited grace,
but some grace for those comments because they know more
than we do. And it's just a much more complicated
(27:11):
game right now. It's not one on one. Everything is
you know, how it functions within a team construct, and
there's just a lot of information on the outside that
that we don't have and and you should just always
keep an open mind to that. I feel like a
lot of these you know clips, these these one on
ones where it goes viral on Twitter. I mean that's
the main purpose for it, to just send it viral
(27:32):
and then just one or two possessions clipped out of context.
It's not meant to be a good faith discussion. It's
meant to you know, it's starting with a conclusion and
cherry picking evidence to backfill. And I think defense in
the modern NBA is complicated enough that you need to
have at least somewhat of an open mind to try
and better understand what we're seeing.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
Yeah, it's funny you say that because somebody has sent me.
A friend, kind of more of a casual NBA fan,
sent me the Vince Carter dunk over Frederick Weiss and
you know, the Olympics way back when. I can't remember
when it was, but he sent me the whole clip
and I was watching it and I was kind of thinking,
these are some of the best we had, and they're
moving kind of slow compared to some of the games
that I see right now, and I'm not I love
(28:15):
eighties and nineties basketball and in the early two thousands,
so I'm not blasting any era, but it has gotten
so insanely. Athletic defense is very tough, so it's a
really good point. I want to give one other shout
out Jayshaun Taitate tonight. I thought, you know, with no
Tari and no DFS tonight, second game of a back
to back, both those guys resting. I thought Tate played
(28:35):
pretty well. I just won a four from the field,
nothing super special. I actually had three turnovers. I didn't
even notice that, but I just thought he came in
hit hit one three, which was I thought pretty important
early on. Just shout out to Tate. You know, the
stay ready group. I thought he did a good job.
Next game is Memphis. I think they come home for that.
You know, none of these games are easy, so I'm
(28:56):
not chalking this up as a w but it is
easier compared to a lot of the game they've played lately.
I'm not sure who all is out. I know Edie's out.
I think Morant might be. I'm not sure on that.
Any thoughts on that, because that's sort of the layup
before you come home and face Wemby and the Spurs again,
or you stay.
Speaker 3 (29:14):
Home for that.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
Yeah, I'm glad you have an extra day of rest
because this week this has been three heavyweight fights in
a row. Certainly Santorio and Detroit on paper, those are
really good teams. But Philadelphia with Maxi and Ebid both playing,
is a really good team as well, especially on the road.
So you've had three big games in a four night span,
and so I'm glad they have an extra day of rest.
(29:37):
They can probably get into practice on Sunday. That would
be my guests, because I think this stretch took a
lot out of them. But in the grand scheme, it's
a good time to be a fan. You know, since
that that road trip where they went zero and three
and it felt like the bottom was falling out, they've
won five of seven cents four and one homestand and
now you know this stretch of three games and four
nights Spurs sixers Pistons two on the road. If anybody,
(30:02):
if you had told people a few days ago that
the Rockets would go two and one, anybody who would
have turned that down is an idiot, Like they could
have gone three, Oh, it would be wonderful, But to
get two wins out of three in this gauntlet of
a stretch is is really difficult, especially you know earlier
this year they had the issues with second night of
back to backs. They seem to have figured that out.
They're playing with more intensity, so cautiously optimistic. You know,
(30:25):
the last home stand they did a good job of
taking care of business against teams like the Bulls, the Pelicans,
the Timberwolves without Aunt, you know, the teams that they
should beat on paper, and so hopefully the Grizzlies are
a continuation of that and whatever. Comment before we close out,
I say a comment in the chat referring I think
to our previous comments team defense or one on one
defense both, because these days one on one defense and
(30:45):
team defense are one and the same. I think that's
or there's a lot of overlap. I think that's what
we're trying to get to. It's not as simple as
it used to be because one on one, especially with
the way the games are officiated, with how quick, especially
perimeter players are, almost any defender in the league's going
to be a bad spot. It's about the interconnected nature
and how all the pieces fit together. That's what we're
talking about.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
Five for the next seven at home, so good setup
for the Rockets really big win. I would have thought
it would have been flipped. Last thing. I'll ask you, Ben,
I don't want me to keep you here, but somebody
that I had mentioned, please refer to it or talk
about this, because I talked about it with Mima as
well yesterday. Yannis, anything deadline, anything you think or feel
as we get closer to it.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
I think the Jose Alvarado thing could potentially have some lags.
I don't know if there's any like traction on a deal,
but I do think he's a type of player that
they like. I think his archetype, you know, the hard
nosed intensity that he plays with defensively. It's annoyed the
Rockets at times in the past, but I think it's
also something that email Judoka wants the Rockets to do
two other teams, so if he's available for cheap I
(31:45):
could see the Rockets exploring something like that, but I
haven't gotten any sense that anything big is in the works.
I saw that comment too, someone said Giannis, I have
not heard anything inside Toyotas there that makes me think
that anything like that is any more close. I think
the Rockets they feel like they still have a chance
this season, but that they're set up to be good
for a very long time, and every conversation I have
(32:07):
they mentioned the length of the window and right now
you're set up to be a sustainable contender, which is
what they've said for years. Dave, I'm sure you've had
the same conversations that I have, and so anything that
changes the timeline dramatically. You know, they acquired Kevin Durant,
but it didn't change the timeline, not saying they would
never change the timeline. If the price is low enough,
you can't rule it out. But I still think the
(32:29):
focus is on making this window as long as it
possibly can be and hopefully in some of those years
the bounces go your way.
Speaker 3 (32:37):
Awesome. That is Bendmos.
Speaker 1 (32:38):
You can follow them on Twitter at Bendemos and Believe
on Blue Sky same handle, right Ben, and as well
you can read him on Rockets Wire at USA Today
and on Clutch Fans. Ben, appreciate you doing this and
we'll be back Grizzlies Monday.
Speaker 2 (32:50):
Correigt Yep, all right.
Speaker 3 (32:52):
We will see all them. Thanks everybody for the support.
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